Catherine Read

Katherine Read (or Catherine) (1723—1778), was a Scottish portrait-painter

Read was born in Dundee Scotland, on 3 February 1723, to Alexander and Elizabeth Read, and one of thirteen children of an affluent Forfarshire family. She may have received her education in Edinburgh. Her mother was the sister of Sir John Wedderburn, a man who’d fought in the Jacobite rising of 1745, and whose daughters were cared for by Read after his execution.

When the war ended at the Battle of Culloden and with family friends fleeing to France, Read’s family was prompted to follow suit for their association and support of the Jacobite cause through her uncle. Through their connections of the gentry, they were given sanctuary in Paris, France that same year and introduced to the painter Robert Strange -whom is speculated to be Read’s teacher and introduction into the French artistic sphere. There she studied other works of art and improved her skills with little hindrance or instruction; it would have been hard for her to have been accepted into an academy class as a woman, let alone a foreigner whose family had a price on their heads for aiding and supporting a cause against the King of England.

This period was not to last, however, as she fled to Rome in 1750 along with a majority of the Jacobites that’d sought refuge in Paris. While there, she became friends with members of the Roman Catholic Church, often commissioned to recreate master paintings in oil or pastel for those in higher positions of the church’s hierarchy. One of these faithful patrons, Cardinal Albani, allowed Read to copy some of his Carriera portraits from his personal collection, which ultimately led the man to sit for her himself.

She remained in Rome until deciding to venture to England in 1753, with the blessing of Albani -who managed to help her keep face regardless of her family’s past alignment in the war. This era was not only filled with a healthy stream of patronage and commissions, as Read was communicating and submitting samples to the Society of Arts for their collection and approval of fixing pastels. However, her methods, when compared to fellow artist Sebastien Jurine’s own, were considered inferior as she used a different type of pastel than he.

In 1764, Read was on the road back to Paris for commissioned portraits of Madame Elisabeth through the Dauphin. Her work was shown by the Free Society (1761-1768) and the Society of Artists (1760-1772) -of which she became an honorary member in 1769 along with the two other female pastel artists Mary Benwell and Mary Black in response to the Royal Academy accepting Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser into their respective fold. Later, after a failed petition to the king, Read left to join the Royal Academy and was expelled from the Society as consequence.

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